Probability of Abnormal Indoor Air Exposure Categories Compared with Occupants’ Symptoms, Health Information, and Psychosocial Work Environment

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Access rights

openAccess
publishedVersion

URL

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä

Date

2019

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

15

Series

Applied Sciences (Switzerland), Volume 9, issue 1

Abstract

Indoor air problems are complicated and need to be approached from many perspectives. In this research, we studied the association of four-level categorisation of the probability of abnormal indoor air (IA) exposure with the work environment-related symptoms, group-level health information and psychosocial work environment of employees. We also evaluated the multiprofessional IA group assessment of the current indoor air quality (IAQ) of the hospital premises. We found no statistical association between the four-level categorisation of the probability of abnormal IA exposure and the employees’ perceived symptoms, health information, and perceived psychosocial work environment. However, the results showed a statistical association between perceived symptoms and man-made vitreous fibre sources in ventilation. Furthermore, extensive impurity sources in the premises increased the employees’ contact with health services and their perceived symptoms. The employees perceived stress and symptoms in all categories of abnormal IA exposure, which may be related to IAQ or other factors affecting human experience. Prolonged process management may influence users’ experiences of IAQ. The results suggest that an extensive impurity source in premises does not always associate with the prevalence of perceived symptoms. We conclude that indoor air questionnaires alone cannot determine the urgency of the measures required.

Description

Keywords

perceived indoor air quality, building research, indoor air questionnaires, psychosocial work environment, categorisation, ventilation, mould, moisture, perceived indoor air quality; building researman-made mineral fibres

Other note

Citation

Tähtinen, K, Lappalainen, S, Karvala, K, Lahtinen, M & Salonen, H 2019, ' Probability of Abnormal Indoor Air Exposure Categories Compared with Occupants’ Symptoms, Health Information, and Psychosocial Work Environment ', Applied Sciences (Switzerland), vol. 9, no. 1, 99 . https://doi.org/10.3390/app9010099